Mel Keefer

(b. 1926, USA)

The Swamp Fox

The American comic artist Mel Keefer studied at the John Machamer School of Art in California. He drew numerous episodes of the early 1950s war comic 'Monty Hall' in the comic books Monty Hall of the US Marines and With the Marines on the Battlefronts of the World (Toby Press).

Monty Hall

His further comic book credits include war features for Charlton and western stories for Dell ('Dale Evans' and Disney's 'Zorro' and 'The Swamp Fox').

Dragnet

Keefer has worked on many newspaper comics, starting with 'Perry Mason' for Universal Syndicate in 1950-51. He then made 'Dragnet' for the Los Angeles Mirror Syndicate (1953) and was one of the ghost artists on the 'Gene Autry' strip (1954-55), that appeared under the credit Bert Laws. Between 1955 and 1973 he drew the daily golf strip 'Mac Divot' for the Chicago Tribune, while also doing art on features like 'Thorn McBride' and the sponsored comic 'Willis Barton, M.D.' (under the name Otto Graff).

Willis Barton

From 1978 to 1981, he drew the 'Rick O'Shay' strip, originally created by Stan Lynde. He additionally contributed to Petersen's Car-Toons and Drag Cartoons.